That is fair. And I guess my last question on that is you were interviewed recently where you said that the relationship between Dedra and Syril gets “weird“ in the second season.
Well, no, I read that and I thought, “Oh God, Tony’s going to kill me.” I talk a lot. No, what I meant by that there’s this thing that people are doing called shipping, which is shipping them as a couple, and I feel like what I’m trying to say is that Tony and the team don’t write normal situations. So, when I read that first last scene, I was like, “Oh my God, she gets rescued. She gets rescued by a guy? I’ve built her this whole season, and now she’s getting rescued.” And he was like, “Yeah, I don’t write that.” And then you explore the scene and you’re like, “Oh, no, she’s really not happy that she was rescued.” So what I would just say is that complex is a better word for it than weird. But I mean, they are a bit weird. Their thing is a bit weird. Whatever way it goes. It’s got a complexity to it that is more than the are boyfriend and girlfriend or, oh, they’re adversaries. There are so many other colors to it than either of those two black-and-white things, which is why “Andor” is so good because they’re all so much more complex than what you would really expect.
Denise Gough on Dedra and Syril - The Playlist (via hegodamask)
Do you feel [Dedra] is altruistic? Does she think she’s doing the right thing? Is she power-hungry? Is she a combination of the two?
I think the idea of her being altruistic is actually more interesting than, I mean, she wants power. There’s no doubt about that. But she wants that power in order to be able to put everything in order. It’s like you talk to anyone, any evangelist, is that the right word? Or fundamentalist? They believe absolutely that what they’re doing is for the greater good. It’s insane. I do think she’s a psychopath, though. I do think that there’s a level of disconnect with her and if you look up female psychopaths, female psychopaths are less likely to murder than normal average females. Because female psychopaths, they usually end up in prison for things like manipulation, coercion, and all of that stuff. And that’s very Dedra. She’s able to manipulate situations, and keep herself as clean. which is why Ferrix was such a mess for her because she lost all control at the end of Ferrix. She had everything set up, and then she lost control. But yeah, she’s all sorts of different things, isn’t she? That’s why she’s so brilliant, I think because she’s not just a mustache-twirling villain. She’s far more complex than that. And so that’s what makes her so interesting to play, because there should be moments where you feel sorry for her. Where when you are watching Dedra, when you watch something happen to her, I hope that what I do to you is make you feel for her. And then go, “Oh, no, no, no. S**t, no, I don’t want to feel that for her.”
I love how Andor was a gateway drug back into SW, and then here I am obsessing over Din & Bo in Mando, and whether a clone in BB is really dead or not.... 🤪 Thanks for the brainrot Star Wars!!
“Syril is an obsessive, possessive, difficult, dissociative person, but sees someone that maybe, potentially, the first person that understands the type of person he is. He goes to find and help her out of that situation, and then they discover that actually it’s not really him saving her, that they potentially, in that moment, are they here to save each other? Is there something deeper here? Can they create a union?” -Kyle Soller (Collider, 2023)
Syril is a quirky character that has become a firm favourite among fans. As with a certain high-profile Star Wars character, you might even sense some good in him – even if he does come across at times like textbook serial killer material.
“He hasn't known who he is for so long. And I think in Season 2, he finally starts to feel like he knows who he is,” said Soller. “He individuates his own experience. Part of me wants to go back to his childhood. Part of me wants to see what he could accomplish once he just actually grows up and gets out of his own way; does some healing on himself.”
Is there good in him?
“This is the question, Where does he lie? It might get answered in Season 2.”
He’s got to break away from his domineering mother first, though, right?
“One of the questions I wanted to know before filming Season 2 was does he move out of his mother's apartment? That question gets fully answered,” said Soller. “But his relationship with his mum gets explored in — I didn't even know Tony can do this — in a completely different way. And in a way that is incredibly relatable to modern life … In Season 2, Syril grows up. So that relationship with his mother needs to shift. And it does in an interesting way.”
“A lot happened in that meeting in the broom closet in the middle of the riot. I wouldn’t say that moment was necessarily handed out to him. Syril is an obsessive, possessive, difficult, dissociative person, but sees someone that maybe, potentially, the first person that understands the type of person he is. He goes to find and help her out of that situation, and then they discover that actually it's not really him saving her, that they potentially, in that moment, are they here to save each other?
Are they here to save each other? Is there something deeper here? Can they create a union? They both want the same thing, you know, they both want Andor. And the massive question mark for me, coming into Season 2 is like, does he move out of his mother’s house? Does he grow up? And both of those things happen in a really incredible way.”
“Tony doesn’t write level. Tony Gilroy doesn’t write level, he writes characters that are completely out of balance and off-kilter, and in a power struggle, whether that's within themselves, in their workplace, with another person. And that's the writing that got me into the show in the first place. I was like, “This is like interplay, this is so meaty and exciting and potent.”